For those that are wondering the large variances in times the slope flown is very, very tricky to master, most of the pilots haven't seen or practiced on a slope like this. 3/4 of the field would be podium winners at any of our US F3F slopes and 98% of our F3F pilots would have a hard time at the Turbulator first time out. It would be more of a fair fight at 15-20 but the names at the top probably wouldn't change as those guy are at the top of their game.

One balk and you add 10-15 seconds EZ in these conditions. I would think the safety judge is keeping busy today!

This is Extreme racing, maybe they will catch a break soon and some of the other pilots can show their stuff.

For those that are wondering the large variances in times the slope flown is very, very tricky to master, most of the pilots haven't seen or practiced on a slope like this. 3/4 of the field would be podium winners at any of our US F3F slopes and 98% of our F3F pilots would have a hard time at the Turbulator first time out. It would be more of a fair fight at 15-20 but the names at the top probably wouldn't change as those guy are at the top of their game.

One balk and you add 10-15 seconds EZ in these conditions. I would think the safety judge is keeping busy today!

This is Extreme racing, maybe they will catch a break soon and some of the other pilots can show their stuff.

Thanks for clearing that up. I was watching the live feed yesterday and could not figure out why there was such a large time spread when the conditions appeared to be the same from pilot to pilot. One thing I did notice in the feed was that the cliff was very low ,so the lift band would be small. But I never imagined 15 seconds for one small slip up.

Does anyone know if they will be "turbulating" at the same slope the whole comp?
Is there another slope they will race at in the same wind direction??

R,
Target

Wind is forecast to die down and switch directions starting Thursday: http://wetterstationen.meteomedia.de...ahl=vorhersage
Based on this, the WC may move to the NW slope "Windtunnel" and later to the NE slope "Gellort." This is pure speculation on my part, I have no inside line to the event.

We woke up to another day of strong winds today. We were informed this morning that we would again be flying the Turbulator! We were told that the wind was blowing even harder than yesterday, and that's some scary stuff. We arrived at the slope and the wind was blowing about 50 mph and that's not an understatement. The competition resumed with round 6 and at 930 am it was at a solid 55 mph gusting to 60. I can't describe what it was like to fly in that kind of air and it was all you could do to just keep your balance and stay on your feet at the edge of the slope and in the pilots box.

I cannot count how many models were destroyed today and we almost were hit in the pit area with a model that caught the lip of the slope and tumbled into the pits. The only thing that saved us was a thick bush about 10 feet away that stopped the airframe from hitting us. Also, several models were blown back behind the houses and never returned to the landing zone. Some were lost waaaay back and were destroyed. The ocean below consumed 3-4 models today as well and the rocks below are not friendly.

I did land a little far back today on one landing and suffered minor damage to my plane. Not to worry, very minor. The guys that were unlucky and hit the slope were flipped end over end and into some pretty dense brush.

Flying in this kind of wind requires your complete attention and the big spread in times is because of a few cycles, but mostly because the wrong turn style on even one turn and you were punished huge. The planes were very hard to hold onto even trying to launch. The planes would shake so violently that we literally had to grab them with a death grip to hold on. There were several models that never made it out of the launchers hands. They slipped out, flipped inverted and suffered damage.

Kyle and Kyler are doing great and the time they spent up north and having flown here before was a BIG benefit for sure. I managed to fly much better today given the conditions. Warren had a bit of a tuff day and he will rebound for sure.

In any case, there is a long way to go and we are having a good time. A very stressful day to say the least.....

I agree 100% with Tom Copp. I watched most of rnd 6 and all of 7 until 3:30am local. The guys with lots of experience ( wired ) on the Turb in these conditions make it look easy. Most everyone else sucked. :-)

Rnd 6, I couldn't match up the flight order well enough, I swear I saw Warren fly 3 times in 2 rounds. :-) Camera a bit too far to really see the pilot.

In 7 the order was working for me and they starting posting Pilot name and number once in awhile to keep track. I was watching for Brandon's flight, had 4 pilots to go and I stepped away only to see his last 4 legs. Looked good to me but no clue on the time. Much better than I was seeing from 2/3 of the pilots and looked pretty smooth. Can't wait to check the times.

M. Herrig was up early in 7, WoW!! That had to be a sub 40. He just kept going faster and faster and never got out of shape. Most are pretty much in the same line he used, that is trying until they get bumped out.

Arm Chair flying from way over here is quite easy, you just do this when I know that's just not the case. I know I would suck big time in those conditions. If I had to make a guess, 2/3 are flying too light, some not even close. They just cant' come back up wind just dieing on Base A even if they got a decent pop on B. Plus most are getting banged around a lot mid course not being able to hold a line, usually signs of too light.

Martin can put a plane where ever he wants, he's just that good. But seems to me from what I saw, he goes just a bit lower on B, early laps comes out higher giving up distance for speed, gets a big pop and then starts bringing it down but still goes in lower than most. He has no trouble with coming back upwind from A with speed. Turn looks about the same as many other than he is faster. He gets the nose down a bit quicker, any coming out of A nose up and light just stop. Low and flat on A isn't working,,, Warren. :-)

Warren can stand his ground but I saw him leaning into the wind and got hit with a big puff pushing him back and plane back over the lip, and his hat was gone. Damn and it's going to more today.

Kyler looked very good with speed but still got knocked off track on a couple of legs, excellent recovery. I can't believe how cool and collected he is, nice job.

Kyle - damn it.. I waited up until 3:15 to see Kyle. He launches, one pump, looking good, 2 pumps looking really good and whammmo, the base A camera looking at B is blown over, nothing but bushes. When the camera switches to other side I maybe have saw the last 3 or 4 legs. Looked like good speed but also getting tossed around. Now we know Kyle is about as smooth as it gets and he is not afraid of trying more ballast.... so that might blow my theory that most are just too light out of the water.

WD, using Brandon's pad. Will do quickly assessment. First round, so windy tears streaming from eyes never heard beepers on right side because I turn away from buzzer. I pull when I feel like it. I guess it is good, it was low 41. Carnage rampant. Hard to walk or talk, beastly conditions. Pike is all full+4tungsten, total of 88oz ballast, on a 10foot slope, psychotic! Some people can get on step and go real fast, if you don't, it goes south immediately. My second round started good, but a flat turn and hard pull killed momentum and a gnarly blast knocked me and plane way off track...bad. Round 3 was going well until a cut totally jacked me...I guess I got greedy... More planes pounding including a plane going in above me and B's head, we got chunks thrown at us...totally gnarly. A Chinese pilot nicked the hill and the flat spin took his plane over the pit area and actually landed in his own pit area. Conditions go from gnarly to worse as the wind shifts to the north... Gues who is last this round...me. My turn comes, my hat blows off...straight to Kyle, standing at cliff side, yes, directly parallel, not good. Lets say this was not good for the team or my ego. It was suggested that a rue flight offered, but no granted. Day over.....thank goodness. My plane is running fine, and I haven't had any nervous thumb, it is a tough road to hoe. Like Tom said, if you haven't experienced it, it can be quite the handful. Today was that day. We are all in good spirits, and me and B have tormented the countryside in our rental beast.... Our navigator, Jane has lead us off track quite a few times....never trust a woman!.. Ok rest now, back on track tomorrow.
Wd